Nowitzki just kept shooting and shooting and shooting. Then, the game started.

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About four years ago, when Dirk Nowitzki was a given as an MVP candidate and the Mavericks were still widely considered contenders, I was still in my Toyota Center cubicle well into the evening when I heard the clanging of the weights from the weight room a floor above.

I didn’t give it much thought at the time. I hear that at some odd hours sometimes. But on my way out, I took a peek at the practice court to see who was working overtime, maybe catch an angle for a story in the coming days.

The Mavericks had played in Memphis the night before, the second game in a back-to-back, but Avery Johnson had called a practice that day, anyway. Practicing after a back-to-back is almost never done, but the Rockets had gotten in a mid-afternoon workout, anyway.

It was not enough for Nowitzki. He was back in the gym that night, putting himself through shooting drills like a draft prospect hoping to somehow slip into the first round. He was drenched in sweating, cutting hard and firing up shot after shot.

When I asked about that the next day, no one seemed to give it a second thought. Nowitzki does this all the time. Always has. Still does.

While the Mavericks understandably fretted about the time off, Nowitzki saw it as more time to work in the gym.

When he emerged, he was, as Rick Carlisle put it, “spectacular.”

He not only poured in 48 points, he went 24 of 24 from the line, the most foul shots ever made without a miss in a playoff game. Of his 15 field goal attempts, he missed just three. He tormented five Oklahoma City defenders and so twisted the Thunder defense in knots that he triggered far more shots for teammates than his four assists would indicate.

When he was through, he – like Carlisle – immediately cited the late nights in the gym.

“I was working a lot on my shot,” Nowitzki said. “I was in the gym every night. It paid off. I was really looking for my shot early. For a shooter, having a couple go in, that’s even better for the confidence. I just attacked from there.”

***

The second round of coaching interviews indicates little. There were three finalists. They were all going to go through additional interviews. There are still three finalists.

The Rockets seem to be in no hurry to make their choice, even if that means waiting for Dwane Casey’s season with the Mavericks to be completed. If they choose Lawrence Frank or Kevin McHale, they could make their pick and show him off, but so far, they have not gotten to that stage.

It was interesting, however, that when I made my way around American Airlines Arena on Tuesday, so many people stopped me to rave about Casey. This means little. For one, they were talking to the wrong guy. Daryl Morey so far has resisted the urge to consult me. For another, if I were in New Jersey or Boston, I might have heard the same raves about Frank. It was difficult, however, to hear so many people speak so glowingly about the guy and not believe him ready to step in.

***

Though most of the NBA could be happy for the Cavaliers’ good fortune at the lottery, and especially for Nick Gilbert, the son of owner Dan Gilbert who has spent his 14 years battling a nerve disorder that causes tumors to grow in the body, Timberwolves GM David Kahn managed to shamelessly spit in the punch bowl.

Nick Gilbert represented the Cavs who came away with the top pick. Kahn was probably trying to be funny when he was instead tasteless.

“This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” Kahn said. “Last year it was Abe Pollin’s widow and this year it was a 14-year-old boy and the only thing we have in common is we have both been bar mitzvahed. We were done. I told Kevin (O’Connor of the Jazz): ‘We’re toast.’ This is not happening for us and I was right.”

Maybe he did not mean to insinuate the thing was fixed, or to trivialize Irene Pollin’s loss or Nick Gilbert’s struggles. I was not there and some have said he was taken out of context. But he wasn’t funny. He wasn’t gracious. He has, however, built the league’s worst team and somehow repeatedly made it look worse.